


Identify Yourself

by gingercinderella



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: I'm breaking ground here you guys, The relationship is very much a side event, wouldn't you know it but ao3 didn't autopopulate their names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 13:51:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14403468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingercinderella/pseuds/gingercinderella
Summary: The Voyager messes up and tumbles headlong into a wormhole that takes them to a part of space that's far, far away and a long time ago.The Galactica finds themselves facing down a new ship one day.





	Identify Yourself

**Author's Note:**

> BSG is at about the time of final cut.  
> I haven’t watched Voyager in order, honestly, so I don’t know what time it would take place in. Late enough to have Seven of Nine, so that’s season 4 or 5 at least? It’s not… super relevant.

They decided to go through the wormhole. Basic projections led them to believe that it would, indeed, take them closer to the Alpha quadrant. And they maneuvered right into the yellow and blue and red wormhole that promised a faster way home.

They realized their mistake quickly. The stars didn’t match anything that the computer could identify, didn’t show that they were anywhere in a mapped star system. They had no direction to go in, no sure orientation towards Earth, and the only way to go, it seemed, was forward, because that was better than staying still.

Worse, they stopped running into anyone. Space was always desolate, but not like this. Not a single alien contact in days that stretched to weeks that stretched to months.

Seven of Nine was the one that caught the biggest mistake, in the astrometrics lab. This universe was fundamentally younger, based on the nebula formations and contents of the interstellar matter. When asked if they’d just gone too far, if they’d managed to go past even the limits of the Delta Quadrant to where the readings might change, Seven dismissed it out of hand.

They hadn’t just moved in space- they’d moved backwards in time, maybe into a parallel world without aliens. One hundred and fourty seven people, lost in space more entirely than they had ever imagined possible.

 

* * *

 

 

Mining tylium took a hell of a long time and put them in a far more vulnerable position than anyone would like, Lee included. They had the CAP, of course, but if the Cylons arrived, it would take too damn long to get their people off the moon, to pack it up and jump. He didn’t like it, but what choice did they have? They needed the godsdamn fuel.

“Can you imagine being on Cloud Nine? Lounging out in the sun all day?”

“Keep the chatter down,” Lee said into the mic. He was tense every minute they stayed here, and he didn’t appreciate Kat being anything but focused.

The line went quiet for a while longer.

“Apollo, this is Galactica.”

“Go ahead.”

“We’ve got… something, bearing 194 carom 427. Take your crew and check it out.”

“Cylons?” He asked as he turned his viper and trusted the rest of the pilots to be listening and following.

“We don’t know, Apollo. It’s moving towards us fast. Could just be a stray asteroid.”

That was wishful thinking and Lee knew that Dee knew it, too. Things like a stray asteroid didn’t happen to their ragtag fleet, not after being chased by Cylons for seven months. But Cylons didn’t fly in, they jumped right on top of them.

“Wilco, Galactica, checking it out.”

The four vipers were in formation when they could just begin to make out the object. Silver, ship-like. Not an asteroid, but not a Cylon ship, either, at least nothing that they had ever seen.

“Galactica, the ship is- it’s not Cylon. I…” Just staring at it, small as it was, just a speck, shook him. He flipped a switch on his console. “Unidentified vessel, identify yourself. This is Captain Lee Adama of the Colonial Fleet,” he said, the broadcast going out on all signals.

The next moment he felt nearly afraid to move in his cockpit, like he might miss a response. The Vipers flew ever closer to the ship, growing larger by the moment, but the radio remained quiet.

“Try again,” he heard his father say through the comm. The CIC could only be more tense, all those people feeding off on another’s’ fears and hopes of what they were coming up against.

“Vessel, identify yourself. This is Apollo of the Colonial Fleet,” he repeated, broadcast to the emptiness.

Another beat of silence and he could make out the ship better, some blue light on the front of it. “Galactica, do you have orders?” He asked. A ship, headed for the Fleet, presented a thousand problems if they didn’t respond. For a second he remembered the Olympic Carrier, shooting it down before it could destroy the rest of the ships.

“Try ag-“

Static came over the comm line, and his father went silent.

“This is the-  -from- -we“ Lee was nearly holding his breath as the garbled audio came through the comm, and Lee wished he had a Raptor out here, a ECO who knew better how to get a fix on a signal like this. As it was, he adjusted his radio to broadcast back near the same frequency.

“Vessel, please repeat.”

“This is Captain Kathryn Janeway from the Federation Starship Voyager,” the reply came, a woman’s voice still not entirely clear but it was _there_ and that was amazing. Another ship.

“Please adjust your heading and speed, do not approach the Fleet,” Lee said, no prompting from Galactica but he was sure they were just as nervous about the ship headed straight for them, and it was clear that the ship immediately followed the direction, pulling up.

“It’s good to see you, Apollo,” the ship answered back. “Space has gotten lonely out here.”

His father’s gruff laugh rang through the comm. “Congratulations, Lee, now she thinks we are all Apollo.” He could hear the CIC whooping in the background- they hadn’t established exactly what this ship was, but it’s not the Cylons and they weren’t in imminent danger, it was time to celebrate.

 

* * *

 

 

Lee was given guest quarters for their negotiation. With the tylium operations still underway, they had time to figure this out, more or less. The previous night had been all pleasantries, meeting the crew in a large dining hall with opulent food that was close to flavors he knew, but nothing that he imagined one could have on a ship. They were nice, uniformed, and seeking a home.

And from Earth.

And from the future.

All of it was surreal as they talked about their homeworld- or at least, the homeworld of some of them. Aliens, not human or Cylon but something entirely separate- surrounded them, smiling and making small talk and asking about the Galactica. By the end of it, Lee was more overwhelmed than anything and was glad when the president suggested they all leave to quarters for the night.

In the morning, he woke early and waited in the hallway outside of his room for the rest of the group from the Galactica. Billy emerged next, then Galen, then Helo, and finally Laura. Five free rooms, all in a row, with so much space in each one including a personal bathroom. Lee had taken a sonic shower- which was an experience- and he felt fresher than he had in ages.

A man in their strange one-piece uniform with red shoulders came into the hallway with a smile. “Good, you’re all here, if you could just follow me-“

At least their own uniforms felt nicer in comparison, rather than some strange pajamas. The dress greys, with the leather sash and pins, felt like the right amount of formality. Most things on this ship seemed undeniably better than their own, from the food and accommodations to even the lighting and upkeep of the ship, and there was something nice and a little petty to feel like they had their soon to be allies beat in some way.

The Captain sat at the head of a long table, flanked by other people in near-matching uniforms, and the five of them filed into their own seats. The people on the other side with pointed features that were clearly inhuman, but they were getting used to that. Some of the people drinking champagne the night before had been blue.

His father trusted him to be a good diplomat, to represent the military along with Helo. Baltar had wanted to go, but Lee had seen the look that his father and the president had exchanged, for barely just a second, that had clearly said that they thought it was a terrible choice. They settled on sending Galen to understand the technology and explain their own.

“You have the edge in technology, it seems,” Laura said with a smile. “We’ve been on our journey to find Earth for barely a year, and you’ve been searching for four, and you are coming out ahead.”

“And Voyager isn’t even designed to hold people for this long,” the XO, or whatever he was, said. It wasn’t smug, just a fact, and Lee had to wonder what this ship would look like if it was designed to be a long term ship. Or if it were a battle ship, since this wasn’t designed for a long fight, either.

“It certainly is illuminating to be here. Thank you for hosting us.”

Where to hold this first meeting, after staticky radio conversations, had been tricky. The old man wanted it on his own ship- but it would put the possible allies at such a disadvantage it would hardly make negotiations easy. And hosting them overnight… well it wouldn’t give an impressive view, to have to look at what quarters they could scrounge up. Sending a small party over, minimally armed, seemed like a better solution. Neither Adama particularly liked it.

“I’d like to see your ship.”

“Certainly. In fact, if you were to join our Fleet, it may be a necessity that your crew leave this ship for our own.”

Janeway’s face moved just the tiniest bit, her pleasant expression still there, but the corner of her mouth twitched with displeasure before she could keep her mask in place. “And why might that be?”

“We move at faster than light speeds. Which your ship does not seem to have.”

“We can go at 99.75 percent the speed of light,” the woman with forehead ridges said, getting just a little indignant that they might suggest her ship wasn’t good enough. Torres, maybe? Lee liked her, straight away. She seemed almost like Starbuck, ready for a fight.

“That won’t be good enough to stay ahead of our enemies.”

“With all due respect, we’ve been flying in this quadrant for months without any sign of anyone. You’re the first contact we’ve had since the wormhole took us here. What enemy are you facing?”

There was something almost quaint about not knowing.

Lee was glad that he didn’t have to be the one to break the news, that the president cleared her throat and went into the story.

 

* * *

 

 

“We’ve only got a few pilots onboard,” Paris told him. Lee shook his head at the thought.

“We’ve got dozens. Come on, you’re staying with us for the night. We don’t have enough fancy quarters for you to be anywhere else.”

The empty rack was usually used for storage, drying clothes and the like, but had been cleared in a hurry. The old man had wanted to kick someone out of married quarters for the night, but Lee had insisted otherwise- if Paris could see them in their normal state, joking around and casual, he’d be able to report back about the crew to his Captain. They needed her to agree to join them soon.

Tylium mining was nearly complete. They were pushing their luck staying here for so long- they were nearing six days. If the Cylons arrived before the Voyager crew was onboard, there was little that the Battlestar could do to protect them for long.

“Do you drink?”

“All I’ve had is synthehol since I left Earth,” he admitted. “My tolerance is probably a little low.”

“Perfect! We’ll teach you how to play Triad and you’ll be easy to beat with a few shots.”

He wasn’t easy to beat, but he also turned away shots after the first one made him cough loudly for nearing on a minute. Lee appreciated the quick way he started to count cards just right, figuring out the strategy. He’d have to get Starbuck to play this kid at some point.

“Do you like living on the battleship?”

“It’s a battle _star_ ,” Racetrack corrected quickly and Lee rolled his eyes at her.

“It’s kept us alive. If I had been anywhere else, I’d be dead after the first attack.”

“And this is better?”

Lee raised his eyebrows. “You saying that you’d rather be dead than on this rust bucket?”

“No, no, just. Looking around. This life seems so different from what I’m used to.”

“You’ve lived on a ship for years.”

“I haven’t been in the middle of a war for years. I haven’t fought them every day.”

Lee nodded. “You’re worried we’ll try to get you to be a pilot like us.”

“I’m not a soldier, Apollo.”

Lee still did not entirely understand what the Federation was for, if not making soldiers. Sure, peace between all these planets and races, but there was always a fight to be had. The colonies had been at peace for decades, but the Fleet was full of soldiers nonetheless. “We don’t expect you to be a pilot like us.”

“Then why am I here, with pilots, instead of somewhere else?”

“We don’t have a lot of rooms, Paris. That wasn’t just a line. We-“

“A line?” Paris smiled at him, taking Lee out of his train of thought for a second with that wink. “I’d never.”

Was that what passed for flirting? Gods, it had been too damn long for Lee to even fully… tell. Frak him.

“Are we playing cards or are we talking?” Racetrack asked loudly, making Lee realize that he’d been just. Staring at Paris, and Paris had stared back. She put her cards back down on the table with a huff. “You don’t play for cubits, people just don’t care about the frakking game,” she muttered as she stormed off.

“So what would I be doing? What would all of us do?”

“There’s jobs around the fleet. You’re not skill-less, you’d find a way to make a living.”

“We have to earn money?”

“Depends.”

“If I stayed here, would I?”

“I’d keep an eye on you and make sure you were doing alright.”

“How sweet.”

“I think you’ll find that I’m very sweet.”

Starbuck chose that moment to duck into the rec room, startling Lee and Paris both. “The famous Earther,” she said and pulled up the chair Racetrack had abandoned. “Let’s see how well Lee taught you what we do here.” She gathered up the cards and dealt.

After four games, it was a draw.

Lee was impressed that Starbuck didn’t press for another game, but then again maybe she wasn’t so sure she could win.

“Come on, we’ve got an early morning on the flight deck before you have your fancy meetings in the morning,” Starbuck said as she got up.

“Guess so,” Paris answered, taking her offered hand to stand up. He flashed her that same easy smile that he’d had for Lee earlier, but then when Kara turned around and they were all in the hall, Paris winked at him again.

 

* * *

 

 

“Using actual bullets is almost quaint,” Torres said, and Lee was impressed that Tyrol barely reacted. But they’d all seen the weapons test the Voyager had shown them, how easily nothing but light had destroyed the asteroid. They’d dismantled the weapons off of Voyager and now they sat on the flight deck, ready to be attached after they jumped away from the tylium moon.

Other parts lay ready for integration into the Fleet all around them- food replicators, shield generators, medical supplies, contraptions that the Chief understood but Lee had never been able to wrap his mind around. The Voyager crew walked around them, checking things every now and then, but honestly they looked more shell shocked than anything else. No one could blame them.

“We’re working to see exactly how and where to attach your phasers,” Chief assured her. “Your engineer corps has been more than helpful.” The three of them walked through an aisle made in the almost-organized debris, going through a checklist in Tyrol’s grasp.

This wasn’t technically Lee’s job, but he’d become defacto ambassador to the new crew, the people trusting him because Paris and Janeway did. He oversaw more of this than he would like, giving up a little of his time in the cockpit, his duties as CAG, to make sure the transition went smoothly. They’d only had four days so far to figure it out, but already the Voyager crew had moved off the ship, put up for the moment around the Galactica’s empty bunks before they figured out more of where to put them.

In a day, the new crew would be fully integrated into the fleet and their ship flown into the star that the tylium moon orbited. Their one relic of Earth, but some strange Earth in the future, would do nothing but slow them down, was too large to land even on the Galactica, and would only pose a liability if the Cylons were to find it. There was nothing to be done but destroy it.

“You’re not going to-“

The small can lights on the sides of the deck lit up red and flashing.

“Action stations, action stations-“ they heard Tigh’s voice come over the ship speakers. Lee bolted, his instincts barely giving him time to think. Around the room, the men and women in their strange uniforms looked up, terrified. Guess it was a chance for them to see if the Cylons were truly as big of a threat as the Fleet had said so far.

Tugging on his flight suit and hopping into his cockpit came nearly as second nature by now. His Viper went screaming out of the tube, and then he was out in the black. Just him, the other six pilots, and their ten closest raider friends.

At least it wasn’t a basestar.

Yet.

They flew in formation and took down half of the raider party before one jumped away.

“Galactica, Apollo. We got a runner. He’s definitely telling his friends where we are.”

“The fleet’s already away. It’s just the Galactica and the Voyager left.”

“So what do we do?”

There’s a quiet on the line as the Vipers went after the next raider, taking it down too. Three left, plus the cavalry that they were about to bring to help.

“Apollo, Galactica. Destroy the Voyager.” It was the female captain’s voice. Had she asked for the dubious honor of ordering the end of her own home? Lee blanched at the thought, but maybe it was better than letting someone else make the call. Give the ship at least that amount of dignity.

“Galactica, Apollo. Can I confirm, we are to destroy the ship?”

“Do it.” His father’s voice, grim as ever.

“Hot Dog, with me. Jammer, you lead the others in taking out the rest of these frakkers.” He turned from the pursuit and Hot Dog followed him.

“We’ll make one pass.”

“Wilco, Apollo.”

Once again he was eerily reminded of the Olympic Carrier. When the Voyager had first appeared, at least there was a possibility it was an enemy ship, that it was a threat to the fleet. And now- it’s just a shell of a ship, but he’d walked through its halls. He’d seen the shining warp core and the tropical fantasies the holodeck had to offer. It deserved better than this.

“Are we going or what?” Hot Dog’s voice was impatient in his headset, more than a small bit antsy to get this over with and get back on the Galactica to jump the frak outta here.

“On my mark,” he said, his finger hovering over the trigger.

The Voyager deserved better, but it didn’t deserve to be found by the Cylons. And those were the only two options left. An empty ship deserved a decent funeral, not to be dismantled for clues.

“Mark.” His weapons fired, and Hot Dog’s joined him. They hadn’t planned for this, hadn’t discussed how to destroy a ship like this, but he aimed for the heart of the ship, near the warp core, and it blew up in an almost spectacular way. The shockwave shook his ship and he turned to go.

“Fleet is away, come on home, I repeat, come on home,” he heard, Dee’s familiar greeting.

“Frak, that’s a basestar-“

“That’s two-“

The vipers all turned and took their landings. Even with the panic and adrenaline of basestars and raiders, this part was straightforward at least. Familiar.

Lee skidded to a stop, tossed around in his cockpit as always. And then there was nothing to do but look up and watch the pods retract fully, wait to be able to jump. No one was going to get him out of here til then.

He didn’t even hear the order to jump, something like that didn’t have to go through his headset. But he felt the way his stomach twisted and pulled for a moment, how everything felt wrong before it was all set right again.

Safe.

They were safe.


End file.
